Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1887-03-03
To tho Public.

| wish 10 make Il few remarks in re-
gard To the recent whisky suits. in
which 1 appeared as complaining wit
ness and which 80 far have resulted in
| failure TO convict. | do not wish to
make any apology 10 anyone, friends or
| enemies, for the part / took in the
"a Utter That there has been a failul
| | acknowledge. but very much regret
| il. 1t would have been much better
for the interests of law and order in
the village. il al the parties had been
| brought to Justice and convicted and
punished as the law directs. If temper
ance men Of the village and township
were as much interested OH their side
as saloon men and their friends are on
the other side, they would see TO it that
at least one constable be elected. whose
sympathies are not on the side of sa-
looms. y failure at this point is GER
tain defeat. such cases always depend
on what kind of a jury is selected. y
whisky drinker or whisky sympa-
thiser will never agree to convict, no
matter what the law and evidence is,
and a constable Of like feeliegs will al
ways make a selection with disagree
ment III view and such men will give
us away every time. We had as clear
a case as ever was put on the justice
docket in the case of People VS.. Jack
son. The evidence was positive and
conclusive, and not denied by the de-
fense. The law was plain as the nose
on q mans face, and was clearly violat-
ed. Six jurors were sworn on oath to
give verdict according to the law and
the evidence. Three agree toa verdict
of guilty, as they were sworn to do.
Three are for acquittal. Why? The
law is clear. the evidence positive
Again, gentlemen of the jury. | ask in
the interests of justice. law and decency
why acquit? The common verdict. eX-
cept amongst whisky men. and their
allies. is that the average juror (as in
this case is either deficient in moral
| perceptions, or mental capacity. so he
cannot perceive the connection of his
oath with the law and facts, or else he
is q moral coward and dare not do what
is right. In either case such men are
to be pitied AS word of warning
would say. and especially to parents
who have boys. don't forget tins, "tht
iron may enter your own souls yet.
Some day your boys may be old enough
to get from under your notice and con
troll. at all times. and may land in these
dens. There are such cases here in the
village now. know some parents IN
this neighborhood who told me IN year:
gone bye, when | was lighting this wilt
traffic single handed, ] HAD better mind
my own business, who have since been
converted by sad experience whel
their own boys got entangled in The
tolls of the spoiler. and are now going
heller, SHELTER 10 ruin and destruction
Friends your boys and my boys arr
not safe while such infamous dens ar,
allowed to exist. And respectable {?
men say go it. 1t is about time think
ing men should call halt, and take
such measures as will secure us agains
repetition of such willful violations
of law. as open Sunday saloons and sa
looms being open all night where boy
and men - spend. not only their owl
hard earnings and the earnings of 9th
ers, over the card table. a word to tn,
wise ought to be sufficient. Fools vii
not profit by this.
Yours, JAMES BROWN.